Inspiring Women to the Top: Sage Advice for Career Success in IT

Kelly McPherson Restaurant Brands International	Sharon Moura Tyco International	Vicky Osejo Royal Caribbean	Vivian More Interval International

Highly successful female IT leaders in global enterprises shared lessons learned at ITWomen’s spring program, “Inspiring Women to the Top.” Several themes emerged from the program held at host sponsor Burger King corporate offices in Miami:

• Take the risk of opportunity – don’t wait until you think you’re ‘perfect’ at every prerequisite.
• Learn from your mistakes and move on.
• Nurture your passion, worry less about fitting in.
• Stay curious — never stop learning.
• As a leader, accept that your value will be more in vision, strategy and checking on all the moving parts rather than the pure production mode for which you were rewarded earlier.

The speakers elicited many specific questions both in the Q & A session and afterwards. The diverse audience of about 40 people, ranged from students, to young women in the beginning of their careers, to mid-career and senior level professionals and representatives of other organizations from Orlando to Miami.

The event has received widespread positive feedback.

“As young professionals, we were inspired by how [the speakers] were comfortable admitting they know their limits on what they can and cannot handle by themselves and how we shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help balancing the many hats we can wear,” wrote Shalane Vitris. “This event has empowered us to continue in our pursuit to take our careers to the next level and we look forward to attending future ITwomen events.”

Our speakers, from Restaurant Brands International (Burger King), Interval International, Tyco International, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL) all advanced their careers through driving strategies, delivering business value and taking charge of their careers, while balancing life commitments.

Special Thanks to Burger King, ITWomen’s Host Sponsor:Burger King:
Kelly MacPherson, SVP, Chief Information Officer, Restaurant Brands International. Bio
Tyco:
Sharon T. Moura, Tyco International, Vice President, IT Transformation & Strategy. Bio
Royal Caribbean:
Vicky Osejo, AVP, IT Program Management Office, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. Bio
Interval International:
Vivian More, Vice President, IT Shared Services, Interval International Bio

ITWomen is grateful for the generosity of our speakers and ITWomen members in sharing their experiences and paying it forward, as well as to our host sponsor Burger King, which provided an outstanding reception, signage and venue.